Tigers 9 Royals 1

After losing 4 straight games to the Red Sox, the Tigers came back with a nice 9-1 victory over Kansas City on Monday night.

Nate Robertson(12-7) threw a great game. He went all 9 innings while giving up only 1 run. He also had 7 strikeouts. He is the first Tigers left-hander to win 12 games since Justin Thompson won 15 games in 1997. Nate's era for the season is now 4.40.

Craiq Monroe had another great game. He hit a 3 run homer and a 2 run homer in this one. Monroe has batted .373 with seven homers and 18 RBIs over the last 16 games.

During this game, Pudge scored his 1000th run and Dmitri Young collected his 1000th hit. Pudge also hit a homerun in this game.

The Tigers' record now sits at 61-70.

Weekend Notes

The Lions lost in their third preseason game on Saturday to the Ravens 17-6. Their record is now 1-2. Rookie wideout Roy Williams had a nice game catching 3 passes for 40 yards. Rookie running back Kevin Jones also had a good game rushing for 37 yards on 7 carries. Joey Harrington looked decent going 11/20 for 98 yards. Holt had the one interception on defense for the Lions. Detroit will have one more preseason game next week against the Bills before they start the real season.

The Tigers were swept this weekend by the Red Sox. All 4 games were tough for the Tigers. The Tigers' record now sits at 60-70.

Pistons' lone draft pick from this year's draft, Rickey Paulding, signed with an Israeli pro basketball team. The Pistons will retain his rights if he comes back to the NBA. Paulding averaged 12.2 points a game in the NBA summer league.

Michigan Wolverine Football starts this Saturday. Their first opponent will be the Miami of Ohio who will be looking to pull the upset. Michigan is ranked 7th in the nation even after losing many of their key players from last season when they went to the Rose Bowl. To see their entire schedule, click here.

The Lions Offense

Here is my preview for the Detroit Lions' offense going into the 2004 NFL Season. I broke it down by each position.

Quarterbacks-the Lions' starting quarterback for this upcoming season will be Joey Harrington. This will be Harrington's third season in the NFL. The Lions originally drafted him third overall in the 2002 draft. Harrington has looked good at times and bad at others. A large reason he hasn't done great is because in his first 2 years, he had almost no offense around him. This season the Lions put some guys around him that can score. This season will be a make or brake one for Joey. The Lions backup will be Mike McMahon. He has been a solid backup for Joey over the past 2 seasons. Look for him to jump in if Joey struggles a great deal. The Lions also have Curt Anes and Rick Mirer who will probably battle for the third spot.

Wide Receivers-the Lions are probably the strongest at this position. Their go to guy will be Charles Rogers. Detroit drafted Rogers with the second overall pick in the 2003 draft. In the 5 games he played last season as a rookie, Rogers looked great. He scored 3 touchdowns and had 243 yards receiving. He should have a huge second season in the NFL. Harrington will also be looking to throw the ball to Roy Williams. Detroit drafted him 7th overall in this year's draft. He is from Texas and the Lions expect great things from him. The Lions also signed Tai Streets in the offseason. Streets scored a career high 7 touchdowns last season. The Lions 4th receiver will be Az-Zahir Hakim who has some nice speed.

Running Backs-during this offseason the Lions released their former starting running back James Stewart. This season they will be looking to replace him. In this year's draft, the Lions picked up Kevin Jones from Virginia Tech. He did very well in college and is expected to do the same in Detroit. He should battle for the starting job with Artose Pinner. Pinner hasn't played much in the NFL but has looked great in training camp and could very well be the starter on opening day.

Tight Ends-this position is up for grabs. Stephen Alexander,John Owens, and Casey FitzSimmons could all get the job. Right now it seems like Fitzsimmons could have his foot in the door.

Full Backs-for the past 10 seasons the Lions have counted on Cory Schlesinger to be their full back. He has been named to the pro bowl 2 times. Stephen Trejo and Keith Belton will be his backups.

The Starting Line-the Lions starting line should be good this season. During the offseason they signed Damien Woody. Woody was named to the 2001 pro bowl and played on the Patriots' 2 super bowl teams. He should anchor their line. The Lions also have Jeff Backus. He is entering his 4th year with Detroit. In those 4 years, he has been very solid. Here are the other line members(including backups):Zach Wilson,David Loverne,David Miller,Josh Lovelady,Tyrone Hopson,Matt Joyce,Branden Hall,Stockar McDougle,Kelly Butler,Victor Rogers,Matt McCoy,Dominic Raiola, and Dave Pearson.

In this list I included most of the backups and players who might get cut. To see the Lions' entire roster, click here. I hope you have enjoyed reading this, if you have any questions or you disagree with something I said, then just leave a comment or send me an email.

8/26 Notes

There is a very good article over at On the Wings talking about the Red Wings Draft History. Head on over there and check it out.

I recently started helping a friend of mine run his own sports website. It is called Sports Center Blog. It covers the 4 major sports. Please click the link to his site and check it out.

The Tigers won again last night, this time against the White Sox. Nate Robertson pitched a gem going 8 innings while giving up only 1 run and striking out 6. Carlos Guillen hit his 20th homer of the season to help secure the 5-4 victory. The Tigers are now 60-66 on the season.

Advertising

I was recently approached by 2 tickets sites asking to advertise on my site. After thinking about it for a while, I agreed. Please check out their sites. Here are the links to them:http://buyselltix.com,http://hotshottickets.com, and http://coasttocoasttickets.com (coast to coast didn't pay me but they added my link to their site). I never thought I would be able to make money off this site. If another other companies want to advertise on my site, then just email me.

8/24 News

Jeremy Bonderman(7-10) threw the game of his career last night as the Tigers beat the White Sox 7-0. Bonderman had a career high 14 stikeouts and threw the complete game shutout. Jeremy had the most stikeouts in one game for a Tiger since Lolich fanned 15 Red Sox on Oct. 2, 1972. He looked great all night. This game should be a sign of great things to come for this young pitcher.

Other Tigers news-Bobby Higginson won the A.L. Player of the Week award. During the week he had 2 games in which he hit 2 homers. He also drove in 12 runs.

Lions News-the Lions released WR Scotty Anderson,guard Solomon Paige, quarterback Jason Fife, and punter Curtis Ansel.

Red Wings exhibition schedule

The Red Wings came out with their exhibition schedule for the 2004-2005 NHL Season. Here it is.

September

26 (Sun.) BOSTON, 7:00
28 (Tue.) at Colorado, 9:00
30 (Thu.) at Boston, 7:00

October

1 (Fri.) TORONTO, 7:30
2 (Sat.) at Dallas, 8:30
5 (Tue.) COLORADO, 7:00
7 (Thu.) DALLAS, 7:30
9 (Sat.) at Toronto, 7:00
10 (Sun.) N.Y. RANGERS, 7:00

The Red Wings going into the next season will be looking to do better than they have the last 2 playoffs when they were eliminated by the Ducks and Flames. They still have Cujo as their goalie and they have re-signed almost all of their key players. If there is an NHL next season, the Red Wings should be once again one of the front runners for Lord Stanley.

Lions 10 Cleveland 17

The Lions lost for the first time this preseason on Saturday to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns played better and got the 17-10 victory.

Kevin Jones was one of the few bright spots for the Lions. He rushed for 29 yards on 6 carries in his first action in the NFL. His longest run of the night went for 11 yards.

The quarterbacks for the Lions didn't do very well. Joey Harrington threw a touchdown pass to Charles Rogers but went just 5/12 on the night for 45 yards. Mike McMahon went 11/17 for 86 yards. Third stringer, Mirer went 0/5.

The Lions are now 1-1 in the preseason. Their next preseason game is against the Baltimore Ravens.

Some Tigers Notes

Bobby Higginson just finished an incredible series against the White Sox. In the 3 game series he went 7-10, with 4 homers, and 10 RBIs. Higgy who hasn't done as good over the last few seasons, is having a much better season this year. He is hitting 256 with a 356 on base percentage. He also has 9 homers, 54 RBIs, and 66 runs scored. All very good numbers from a guy who wasn't expected to do very well this season.

With the win last night, the Tigers' record now sits at 56-64. They still have shot at finishing the season at 500 but it is unlikely. Nate Robertson(9-7) gets the start tonight.

Another Tigers' Victory

The Tigers beat the White Sox last night 11-8. The Tigers were leading in this game 9-3 when the Sox stormed back to make it 9-7, but the Tigers bats lit up again to hold them off for the victory.

Higginson had his best game of the season last night. He went 3-3,hit 2 home runs, and drove in 5 runs. He also scored 3 times. Bobby had gone 19 games without an extra base hit before this one.

Maroth(10-7) pitched decent enough to grab his 10th victory of the season on his 27th birthday. Maroth is now 5-0 with a 2.94 ERA in his last 7 starts. He is the first Detroit pitcher to reach 10 victories since 1998.

Omar Infante, Carlos Guillen and Dmitri Young each hit a home run in this game.

The Tigers' record now sits at 55-63.

A Good Start

The Lions got off to a nice start to their pre-season last night by beating the Steelers 27-21. Harrington looked good going 5-of-7 for 68 yards and one touchdown pass. McMahon looked decent completing 9-of-21 passes for 116 yards. The Lions as a whole looked good and hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.

This was a good start for the Lions in the pre-season but we can't get too excited just yet. Their next pre-season game is against the Cleveland Browns.

8/14 News

The Lions play their first game of the 2004 NFL pre-season tonight against the Steelers. The Lions went 5-11 in 2003 as did the Steelers. It should be fun to see how good the Lions actually improved in the offseason.

The Pistons resigned backup point guard Lindsey Hunter. Hunter is a veteran who still has the skills to play in the NBA. This was another good signing for Joe Dumars to make. The Pistons also re-signed Darvin Ham a few days ago.

The Tigers won again last night, with time against the Angels. They beat them 5-3 in a game where Rondell White and Craig Monroe delivered in the 9th inning. The score was tied 3-3 going into the top of the 9th inning when White lead the inning off with a double. Then Craiq Monroe hit in White's pinch runner to break up the tie. Monroe later scored on a sac fly to secure the 5-3 victory. The Tigers' record now sits at 54-61.

Lions lose Bailey

The Lions' rookie of the year from last season, Boss Bailey, had knee surgery and will be out for a while. Here is the story taken from http://detroitlions.com. The Detroit Lions’ worst fears regarding Boss Bailey’s injured right knee were confirmed on Wednesday, after an MRI exam revealed torn meniscus cartilage, which was then repaired through surgery.

Bailey, a second-year, strong-side linebacker from the University of Georgia, had originally flown this week to the Athens, Ga. office of Dr. Mixon Robinson for an apparent arthroscopic surgery – a procedure that would have shelved him for perhaps the entire preseason. But upon further inspection, Robinson located the cartilage tear and performed a different surgery to mend the knee.

On Wednesday, Lions Coach Steve Mariucci would not reveal a timetable for Bailey’s recovery and subsequent return to the team.

“Boss had arthroscopic surgery, and Dr. Robinson found there was a little more damage to his knee than our MRI first indicated; and he repaired the damage,” Mariucci said. “In communicating with our doctors here, we all feel it’s in his best interest to rest and take the weight off his knee for a matter of several weeks…we do hope to have him back this season."

Mariucci added Bailey will likely return to Detroit on Sunday for rest and then rehabilitation..

This is a tough loss for the Lions. Bailey had a good rookie year in 2003 making 106 tackles. Hopefully he will be able to come back as quick as possible and still make an impact on this season. My only fear is that this might be another season in which the Lions will get bit by the injury bug.

New Sites

I recently ran across 2 new Detroit Sports websites. One is a Detroit Tigers blog and the other one is a Detroit Pistons site. The address to the Tigers site is http://tigerstothetop.blogspot.com and the address to the Pistons site is http://pistonsonline.com. Please check them out and tell me what you think.

Barry Inducted

As I mentioned on Friday, former Detroit Lion Barry Sanders was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Sunday. His dad(who introduced him) jokingly called him the third greatest running back of all time behind himself(who only played highschool football) and Jim Brown. The fans went wild when they introduced him and rightfully so. He was the greatest running back ever. Even fellow Hall of Fame inductee John Elway said that. Barry was so great and he deserved this so much. During his speech, he said a lot of nice things about Detroit,his old coach, and his teammates. There are tons of great articles on this over at http://detnews.com, http://detnews.com, and http://detroitlions.com. Once again, thanks Barry for all you did for the Lions and the city of Detroit.

Barry

Over at freep.com there is a great article of Mitch Albom interviewing Barry Sanders. To read it, click here. There is also a good article on Barry over at detnews.com. To see that one, click here. As you might know, Barry will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this Sunday. He was probably the greatest running back of all time,the greatest Lion of all time, and one of the greatest sports figures in Detroit's history. All lot of people criticize him for retiring at age 31 when it seemed like he was in the prime of his career. They also criticize him because he was about one season away from being the NFL's all time leading rusher. To all of you, I say he did what was right. He showed that the money and the record didn't mean much to him. He wanted to be on a team that could use his talent to win a Super Bowl. The Lions weren't that team and they payed the price by losing him. He walked away from the game being known as one of the best to have played the game of football. Thanks for all the great memories Barry!

Pistons get Coleman

There was huge Pistons' news on Wednesday. Detroit acquired 37 year old Derrick Coleman from the Sixers for former 6th man of the year Corliss Williamson. I don't really understand why Joe Dumars made this move. Corliss Williamson is only 30 and Coleman is 37. Also look at the stats from last season.

Williamson-Minutes per game 19.9, points per game 9.5, Field Goal % 50.5, Rebounds 3.2

Coleman-Minutes per game 24.8, points per game 8.0,Field Goal % 41.3, Rebounds 5.6

Except for the rebounding and minutes, you can clearly see that Corliss had a much better season last year. Another reason not to make this trade is because Coleman was hated by the fans. He missed 138 of a possible 328 games when he was with Philly. He was rookie of the year in 1991 but he has failed to average double figures in scoring three of the last four years. The only good reason the Pistons are giving for why they made this trade is because of money. Williamson is going to make 18 million over the next 3 years. Coleman is set to make 4.5 million this season and 5 million the next season. I guess the Pistons figure it will give them more room under the salary cap over the next couple of years. I still don't understand this trade and maybe I never will. I just hope Joe Dumars knows what he is doing.

As for Corliss Williamson, I will miss you. You were always one of my favorite players. Good luck in Philly where nomatter what you do, the fans will hate you. Other notes on this trade-along with Coleman, the Sixers sent over Amal McCaskill in this deal.

Red Wings sign Fischer

The Red Wings re-signed defenseman Jiri Fischer on Monday to a 3 year deal worth around 5.2 million. Last season he scored 4 goals and dished out 15 assists. He is a guy who doesn't score very much but he is a young(21), big(6-feet-5 and 235 pounds), and powerful defenseman. He coming off 2 disappointing years but I still think he has some good upside. This was another good signing for the Red Wings. Detroit's only free agents who haven't signed yet are Pavel Datsyuk and Steve Yzerman.

Pistons Reveal Schedule

The Pistons start their run at trying to defend their NBA Title next season on November 2 against the Houston Rockets. Other important dates include their only game against the LA Lakers on February 10, a game against the T-Wolves on November 17th, and a game against their Eastern Conference rival Indiana Pacers on Friday, November 19 . To see their entire schedule, click here.

Lions sign Williams

The Lions have signed their first round draft pick(7th overall) Roy Williams to a 5 year contract. I haven't gotten any word on how much the contract will be worth. He can now start practicing with his teammates on Monday. Williams caught 70 passes for 1,079 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior at Texas last season. He finished his career with 241 catches, 3,866 yards and 36 touchdowns, all of which were school records.(in dark was taken from http://foxsports.net)

Tiger Notes

The MLB trade deadline came and went yesterday for the Detroit Tigers with them making no moves. There were some rumors of them trading away Mike Maroth or Urbina but neither of those moves came about.

Other Notes-the Tigers have won 3 straight games against the White Sox and now sit 4 games below 500.